Meeting – May 2012

9 May 2012 at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall

Neighbourhood Plan 
The idea of producing a Neighbourhood Plan had still not been resolved. A Plan could provide a third layer of planning below the Core Strategy and Local Development Framework and would be a material consideration in planning applications. A great benefit would be that it would be bottom-up rather than top-down: led by the Town Council rather than Cornwall Council. It would take time and would need to be put to a local referendum which would, ideally, be timed to coincide with some other voting process in the community (eg the May local elections in 2013).

If a Neighbourhood Plan were produced then the updating of the Community Plan could be incorporated into it to tackle the community, rather than urban planning, issues. If not, then there would be a need to update the Community Plan.

The Forum supported the idea of producing a Plan but matters had not progressed significantly since the discussions in March as the Town Council still appeared undecided on whether to support the idea.

Cycling proposals
Cornwall Council had put forward some proposals for new walking/cycling routes around the town as part of their implementation of Local Transport Plan 3 (LTP3 in the jargon). These had had a mixed reception as no one had known that the proposals were being worked up and the reasoning and strategy had not been explained.

Things were now being clarified. The proposal was to help achieve a modal shift in behaviour amongst commuters in Falmouth and Penryn. Members were invited to comment on the generality of the ideas, suggesting alternative uses for the money to achieve the same objective: covered storage, new crossings, bike racks etc. Comments are required by the end of May. Cornwall Council will then summarise the proposals and consult on the implementation, scheme by scheme.

Town Manager and BID updates
Congratulations to the Falmouth Gig Club on their World Championship successes for both Men and Ladies. Commiserations to the Falmouth Beach Hotel.

The main activities highlighted were

• The Finn Festival which was currently happening out of the Watersports Centre
• The Olympic Torch Relay which would be arriving on Saturday 19 May
• The Fal River Festival at the beginning of June

Falmouth Town Council (FTC) updates
Work had been progressing on the proposals for a seating area on Church Street Car Park. FTC was supportive of this and had committed £10k to the ideas. Cornwall Council had agreed to the idea of a long lease. The project team was now approaching the BID for financial help. Cornwall Council was planning remedial work to the sea wall over the winter and so it was unlikely the new area would be open before summer 2013.

There was no further news on the Localism proposals. Cornwall Council was consulting with FTC on the idea of a ‘revised model of managing’ public conveniences but any wider scheme for the devolution of other services was not being discussed.

The idea of a CIC for Prince of Wales Pier was also stalled. This would need FTC’s support and a lack of CC officer time had prevented the necessary discussions. This was a loss as match-funding could be used to make the whole larger than the parts.

Work on the Docks Masterplan had been affected by a recent controversial talk on the dredging proposals at the Poly. This, it was felt, had simply reinforced positions rather than clarified them and had led to a flood of campaigning emails. Authorisation for the dredging trial was expected within one month. CC Cabinet support was also being sought.

Cornwall Council update
The main item to look out for was the discussion about the stadium which was scheduled for Tuesday 15th.

Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP)
Having been fairly quiet since January, the LEP had sprung into action and published a draft strategy on which they were seeking views before the end of May. See their website. Given the time available, members were advised to respond direct and directly.

Fal Energy Partnership (FEP)
The FEP had produced a free Information Pack for householders which was being circulated. More information is available from their website.

Those attending
Ambassadors – David Pollard
Civic Society - Dick Stiles
Cornwall Council - Mike Varney
Cornwall Marine Network – Paul Wickes
Falmouth Age Concern - Sally Stiles
Falmouth Business Club – Andy Coote
Falmouth Churches Together - Neil Tinson
Falmouth Town Council - Mark Williams
Falmouth Town Council - Oliver Cramp
Falmouth Town Council - Diane Merrett
FDHA – Shaun Davie
National Maritime Museum Cornwall - Jonathan Griffin (chair)
RIBA – Christopher Smith
The Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society - Mike Jenks
Transition Falmouth - Lorely Lloyd
Transport Working Group – John Bottomley
Watersports Centre – Jackie George

Meeting - March 2012

Falmouth Energy Partnership
Charmian Larke and Nick Swallow joined the meeting to report on the work of the Falmouth Energy Partnership. Supported by a grant from the Department of Energy, the Partnership had been exploring the possibilities of the local Falmouth area achieving zero carbon emissions and the implications of this.

Current climate change predictions were that a change of 2 degrees C was the lower limit and that this would raise sea levels by around 10m, inundating much of the Fal area. We were already past peak oil and therefore energy costs were likely to continue to rise as well. The matter was therefore doubly urgent.

The highest use of energy locally is in oil for transport and home heating, and gas in the home. Key areas for reduction are the use of oil and emissions from the production of electricity. A mix of renewable sources could provide 75% of the power required in the area.

It would be possible to achieve local self-reliance with an increase in renewables and:

• 50% less demand for transport
• 35% drop in demand for electricity
• Better heated homes

Growing sufficient food locally to provide a traditional diet. To meet these long term energy resilience targets would take an investment programme of £8m pa which is the equivalent of about £200 per person per year.

In discussion it emerged that:

• There had not been a change in the sea level on the Penryn River over the last 100 years
• Cornwall Council are planning for a 1m rise in sea level over the coming 100 years
• There are currently only 90 wind turbines in the county. If replaced by larger ones, this could be reduced to 30
• It could be made mandatory that all new build should include pv cells but this made the houses uneconomic

The team was congratulated on their work and encouraged to start with small achievable projects. There was a risk of scaring people with the big picture. The key was in allowing people to make individual economic decisions which helped move towards a sustainable future.

The Falmouth Energy Partnership was holding a meeting about wind turbines at 19:00 on Friday 16 March in the WI. The launch of the initiative was to be at 19:00 on 28 March at the Poly at which it was intended to launch a social enterprise which would carry out a range of demonstration projects.

Anyone who wished to get involved should email.

Localism and the Prince of Wales Pier
There had been some concern that the creation of a CIC for the Prince of Wales pier had begun to head off in the wrong direction, being limited to a contract to run a series of events. Mike Varney confirmed that this was not the intention and that a management agreement was needed. Cornwall Council would retain its responsibility for the fabric. Further progress would be made once the Community Network Manager returned from leave.

Sainsbury’s
The Sainsbury development had signed a Section 106 agreement. The community funds arising from this would be managed and spent by a new group which would be mostly filled by community representatives. If that group were to obtain match-funding then it would be necessary to limit the number of councillors involved.

Neighbourhood Framework
The consultation on the Core Strategy and Local Development Framework had now closed. The Town Council had responded. There was still a feeling amongst some people that the proposals were still to top-down and not sufficiently derived through an assessment of local needs.

The question of a Neighbourhood Plan was discussed. The Town Council was not yet convinced this was necessary although other advice was that it was essential if planning generally were to be harmonised in the town as a Neighbourhood Plan could be a material consideration in planning applications. If one were to be produced then it should not be done in a hurry (eg by November when there was an opportunity to put it to a referendum) but should be carefully considered (eg by May 2013). It was not essential that the Town Council be involved but this was obviously desirable given the need to engage the local planning committee. A revision of the Community Plan would not go far enough; a document with wider scope would be needed.

Mike Jenks would discuss this with Town Council and report back with a view on what role the Forum might play in the future.

BID priorities for the year
The BID had a prioritised list of projects for the year ahead:

• To continue to make Falmouth.co.uk the most exciting and innovative website in Cornwall
• To continue to work with Cruise ships
• To continue the active pr campaign, especially in support of the many events happening during the year
• To make those events happen, especially the Spring, Arts and Food and Drink Festivals
• To continue work on the signage project which had failed to be fully funded under the Seaside Towns initiative in 2011. A possible bid to a new Coastal Communities fund was being considered
• To continue the free parking project

More details from the website.

Falmouth events programme for the year
A full list of a very active events programme was available from the website (download 2012 events here)

Falmouth Town Council update

• The Parish Meeting had been held on Monday evening
• The future of the Regeneration Group had been in doubt following the creation of a new Strategy and regeneration Group but it had been decided to keep the existing Regeneration Group with slightly changed Terms of Reference
• Geoffrey Evans had been selected as mayor-elect for a further year
• The refurbishment of Kimberley Park was a Council priority for the year
• A joint meeting between the Forum and the Council was proposed as a way of ensuring closer working in the future

Truro Park and Ride
The Eastern Park and Ride had now been approved by the Planning Committee after a fairly stormy meeting. The idea of a southern Park and Ride between Truro and Falmouth was back on the agenda but it was highly unlikely to be at Treluswell.

New Falmouth guide
A new Falmouth guide was in production supported by the BID. This would contain 17 pages of public transport information so no one would have any excuse of not knowing when the No 37 bus came past their front door.

Those attending
Charmian Larke - Falmouth Energy Partnership
Nick Swallow - Falmouth Energy Partnership
Civic Society - Dick Stiles
Cornwall Council - Mike Varney
Falmouth Age Concern - Sally Stiles
Falmouth Chamber of Commerce - Jeremy Edwards
Falmouth Churches Together - Neil Tinson
Falmouth Harbour Commissioners - John Langan
Falmouth Packet - Jonathan Millar
Falmouth Town Council - Mark Williams
Falmouth Town Council - Oliver Cramp
Fal River Links - Tim Light
Federation of Small Businesses - Caroline Robinson
National Maritime Museum Cornwall - Jonathan Griffin (chair)
The Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society - Mike Jenks
Transition Falmouth - Lorely Lloyd
Charlotte MacKenzie

Meeting - January 2012

The meeting was devoted to a review of the year ahead, identifying areas where the Forum could make a contribution to the continued regeneration of the town.

Leadership

• Cornwall Council, Town Council and BID: the Forum will continue to support the main agencies working for the development of the town, building relationships and influence.
• The Falmouth and Penryn Community Plan: although recognised by some, the Community Plan is not referred to by others. The Forum will initiate a review and re-launch.
• Localism: the devolution of decision making to local areas is a real opportunity. The Forum will support the work that was going on to create a CIC to manage part of the town.
• Energy: good work is going on to encourage people to reduce energy consumption and looking at alternative energy sources. The Forum will support these 

Economics

• The LEP: the Local Enterprise Partnership is still forming its views on the priorities for Cornwall. The Forum will continue to contribute to the debate, seeking to maximise the benefit for the town including exploring the options for Falmouth becoming a Local Enterprise Zone.
• Docks masterplan: the Forum supports the development of the Docks and dredging, and will be following the developments with interest, supporting where necessary.
• Penryn River plan: the Forum welcomes the work taking place on this plan which is looking at what policies were needed to enhance the economic strengths of the Penryn River.
• Visitor economy: the Forum will contine to support work to enhance and improve the visitor economy of the town.
• Tremough Innovation Centre: the Forum will continue to work with the university campus to maximise the benefit of its new developments, especially Cornwall Council's Innovation Centre which is due to open shortly.
• Superfast broadband: it is unclear when this was due to arrive in Falmouth. Individuals can check on their own telephone number at a Superfast Cornwall website

The town environment

• The Mary Portas Report: this was influenced by the Falmouth BID submission. The report contained some useful pointers and ideas. The Chamber and Town Manager are working on implementation of some of these.
• Transport: transport issues remains a major cause for concern. The Forum will continue to do what it can to make the town safe and accessible, and to remove as much traffic from the main street as possible. Work is needed on traffic, car parking and Falmouth as a cycling demonstration area.
• Church Street car park: the Forum will continue to campaign to make this car park a pleasant community environment.
• Sainsbury’s development: planning permission has been agreed in principle. The Forum will work with the developers to limit the impact on the town's existing commercial businesses and to use the supermarket's presence to help enhance the town.

Policies/strategies

• Cornwall Core Strategy: this has recently been published and all are encouraged to read and respond to it. (The website is complex and it takes courage to find the main documents)
• Local Framework Plan: this had also been published. This is more specific to Falmouth and looks at potential areas of expansion of the towns of Falmouth and Penryn. The planning predictions are that the area will need to accommodate another 4,000 homes over the planning period. Elected representatives' response to the discussion paper is also available (scroll to the bottom of the page).
• Cornwall Marine Strategy: the consultation on this is closing on 18 January. There is a need for balance between economic use of the seas and coasts and the preservation of the environment.
• Finding Sanctuary: the work that was done in 2011 identifying a Reference Site in the River Fal had come in for considerable criticism both for the process by which it was arrived at and for the scientific grounds on which it was based. The Forum will do what it can to support a rational approach which does not prejudice the development of the town and its people.
• Falmouth by Design 2: the Forum supports the proposal to develop some design guidance to assist planning decisions in the town.

Those attending the meeting:
A & P Docks - Mike Reynolds
Civic Society - Dick Stiles
Cornwall Council - Mike Varney
Falmouth BID - Richard Wilcox
Falmouth Business Club - Andy Coote
Falmouth Chamber of Commerce - Jeremy Edwards
Falmouth and District Hotels Association - Shaun Davie
Falmouth Town Council - Mark Williams
Falmouth Town Manager - Richard Gates
Falmouth Watersports Association - Jackie George
Fal River Links - Tim Light
National Maritime Museum Cornwall - Jonathan Griffin (chair)
RIBA - Christopher Smith
Transition Falmouth - Lorely Lloyd
Transport Working Group - John Bottomley
Transport Worling Group - David Pollard
UCF, UoE and Tremough Campus Services Group - Jilly Easterby